Edward Malet

This article is about the British diplomat. For the High Sheriff of Somerset, see Edward William St Lo Malet.

Caricature of Sir Edward Malet by Leslie Ward published in the British magazine Vanity Fair (1884)

Sir Edward Baldwin Malet, 4th Baronet, PC, GCMG, GCB (10 October 1837 – 29 June 1908) was a British diplomat.

Edward Malet came from a family of diplomats; his father was Sir Alexander Malet, British minister to Württemberg and later to the German Confederation. After three years at Eton College, Edward Malet entered the foreign service at the age of 17. He served as attaché to his father in Frankfurt, then in Brussels.

He served as Secretary of Legation at Peking (1871–73), Athens (1873–75), Rome (1875–78), and Constantinople (1878–79). Malet formed close ties with Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II during 1878, the year of the Treaties of San Stefano and Berlin.

Malet was appointed Agent and Consul-General in Egypt on 10 October 1879. He served there until 1883, pressing for administrative and financial reforms. He was at first sympathetic to Ahmed Orabi's demand for constitutional government. However, historians John Galbraith and Afaf al-Sayyid-Marsot write that after British-French Joint Note was sent to the Egyptian government, Malet gradually began to support the plans of the Gladstone Cabinet to intervene in Egypt, writing on February 13, 1882, "I am prejudiced against the Nationalists." He served a crucial role in the decision of Gladstone's Cabinet to invade Alexandria when he sent a telegram to the Cabinet that both exaggerated the instability of the Khedive's rule in Egypt and also advised the British government to conduct a naval demonstration off Alexandria. (see 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War). Galbraith and al-Sayyid-Marsot describe him as having been naive, in that he hoped the British would attempt to militarily intimidate Urabi, though he never expected an actual attack or occupation by British forces He later served as Minister to Belgium (1883–84), and Ambassador to the German Empire (1884–95).

On 19 March 1885, Edward Malet married Lady Ermyntrude Sackville Russell, daughter of Francis Russell, 9th Duke of Bedford and Lady Elizabeth Sackville-West.

The Malet Memorial Hall, a Tudor Revival-style building which had a church on its upper floor, was founded in his memory by his widow in 1912 in Bexhill-on-Sea. It opened in October 1913.

References

General

• Williams, Lynn (September 2004). "Edward Malet" (subscription required). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34843. http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101034843/. Retrieved 2009-06-08. 
• Goldschmidt, Arthur (2000). Biographical Dictionary of Modern Egypt. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers. p. 120. ISBN 9781555872298. OCLC 52401049. http://books.google.com/books?id=p3J6IS8t74QC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA120. 
• Bartley, L.J. (1971). The Story of Bexhill. Bexhill: F.J.Parsons Ltd. 
• Elleray, D. Robert (2004). Sussex Places of Worship. Worthing: Optimus Books. ISBN 0-95-331-3271. 
• Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage. Vol. 1 (107th ed.). Wilmington, DE: Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 321. ISBN 9780971196629. OCLC 150226262. http://www.thepeerage.com/p2763.htm#i27630. 

Specific

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Frank Lascelles	British Agent and Consul-General in Egypt 1879–1883	Succeeded by Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer
Preceded by John Savile	British Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Belgium 1883–1884	Succeeded by Hussey Vivian
Preceded by Odo Russell, 1st Baron Ampthill	British Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the German Empire 1884–1895	Succeeded by Sir Frank Lascelles
Baronetage of Great Britain
Preceded by Sir Henry Charles Eden Malet	Baronet (of Wilbury) 1904–1908	Succeeded by Sir Edward St Lo Malet